As soon as the CPUs touched down, Jack began jogging towards them, Doe and IF in tow. The sound of the nearby crowd cheering for their Goddesses and the police sirens mixing together drowned out most of the other noises in the area, including the gentle hum of the Cyberdragon's self-repair unit steadily dragging the monster back together. Black Heart was quick to touch down in front of Jack, her face going almost bone white as she saw the state of him.
"Holy shit!" she cried, covering her mouth. "What the Hell happened to you, Lovebun?!"
Jack grinned, a large amount of blood clearly visible on his tattered face. His clothes were torn, he was saturated in gore, and yet despite the fact he was in worse condition than Ground Zero, he seemed like he felt fine. Carefully, she reached a hand out to try and wipe some of the blood off.
"I made a friend, and we took the short way down."
Black Heart gave him a blank, exasperated look, saying nothing, then removing her hand. It now had blood on it, but whatever.
Finally, IF sighed.
"He got into a fight with a twenty foot tall toaster with a cannon arm, then fell from the 100th floor," she clarified. Black Heart raised a brow, slowly nodding. Then, she turned to the man in the red uniform with the oversized helmet, who was currently in the process of picking his nose and idly glancing about.
He really did not seem fussed about who was in front of him.
He probably didn't care.
Black Heart glanced at the massive weapon resting on his shoulder.
He'd do.
"OK, Lovebun," she began, looking back towards Jack. "Tell us what's happened."
"I wished rape upon Cave, went to the bog, killed a Mexican, murdered a bunch of fuckos with guns, died, came back, then found out it was all orchestrated by some Russian fucker with a stupid name."
The CPUs gave him a blank stare, then slowly looked towards Doe.
"...that...that's accurate," he confirmed, raising a finger with a bogey still on it. Black Heart sighed, and turned to the other three.
"So, what do we do?" she asked. Green Heart shrugged.
"I suppose we could fly up the tower and eliminate the hostage-takers," she suggested, scratching her chin.
"You could," Jack cut in, "If you want them to start killin' hostages, then go ahead." Purple Heart's face darkened.
"Ah, so they're that kind of terror group."
"Seems like it," Jack nodded, looking the four Goddesses over. "They've got hostages, guns, and the same level of training I have."
White Heart frowned. "Then they're-?"
"Absolutely. Bunch of the guys I was sent here with." Purple Heart nodded slowly.
"So who's he?" she asked, looking over at Doe. The man was looking rather bored, sliding the sights of his RPG up and down in a way that suggested 'bemusement' rather than 'zeroing'. IF, Jack, and the CPUs stared at him for a second.
"Well..." Jack began, glancing at IF. The smaller woman shook her head, and he knew what she was saying.
He really shouldn't mention he was with those guys.
Jack spent a few seconds trying to figure out how he could explain this new person.
Finally, he spoke. "...he's...the guy...that...uh..."
There were definitely eyes looking at him. Shit.
"...uses an RPG."
He got some deadpan stares from everyone gathered. Except Doe, who was still fiddling with the sight. Black Heart sighed, and rubbed her forehead.
"Fine..." she muttered, before exhaling and straightening up. "So what's the plan?" Jack frowned, and rubbed his chin, folding his free arm across his chest.
"Well...for one thing, a direct assault's a generally shitty idea," he began. "They've too many hostages, and these are the people who don't value the lives of innocent people. Plus, a good few of those hostages are friends of ours." White Heart stuck her lower lip out, and gestured to him.
"Then we just kill them before they take out too many hostages. Duh."
Jack shook his head, glaring at her.
"We are NOT takin' that risk, you understand me?" he snapped. "They've got Cave up there with them, and I'm not gonna risk those bastards killin' her because we were fuckin' idiots about this." Purple Heart flashed a grin at the outburst, folding her arms.
"Mmm, seems like someone wants to be Miss Cave's knight in shining armour..." she chuckled. Some of the others laughed.
"I'm not a knight, I'm not wearin' shinin' armour, and I fuckin' mutilated about five guys with a chainsaw an hour ago, so get fucked."
Black Heart began subtly wiping her hand on her bodysuit to try removing the blood, especially now that she knew where it came from, and that it was not Jack's.
"I'd say rocket jump up there," Doe cut in, drawing everyone's attention, "But I doubt any of you have done that." Jack pouted slightly at the thought.
"Might have to give it a go, sometime. Sounds like an Unreal experience." IF smiled at him.
"Nice reference to the Unreal Engine, Loondumb."
"IF?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
"Aww."
"Anyway, we could only go in quiet. I got separated from James, Luke, and Josh, so we're down four guys, and we haven't got any air support because Chaz has decided to disappear." He paused, then looked at Doe. "You didn't shoot him down, did you?"
The man just shrugged. "I wanted to. But he was dodging missiles anyway, and I thought it would be unfair to fire an RPG at him."
Jack nodded. "Top geezer, you probably saved his life. But I've no idea where he's gone. I can't hear the chopper."
"Not like we need it," Black Heart replied calmly, resting the back of her sword on her shoulder. "If we sent up a chopper, they'd hear it, and start killing hostages."
"Good point," IF sighed, scratching her head. "I mean, there were skylights on top of the building. If we could get someone up there silently, we might be able to use them as a spy, of sorts."
Doe tilted his head. "But nobody here is French enough for that."
Green Heart, not knowing the reference, stroked her chin, and looked up at the massive tower before her. No real way in...too many windows. "I suppose..."
Her eyes drifted over the structure of the building . A lot of windows...
...support beams.
She snapped her fingers.
"Those support beams," she said quickly, looking at everyone else. "They look like they'd be large enough to conceal our ascent up the side of the tower." The rest of the group shot her quizzical looks, before looking at the building.
Jack grinned as he realized she had a point. The thick, metal support beams up the side of the building looked like they'd be big enough to provide visual and physical cover against anyone in the tower. "There's also the benefit of it going up the side of the whole building," he added, "No blind spots, either."
"I could try rocket-jumping up there," Doe suggested. "It'd weaken the structure, but I'm sure I could make it the whole way." IF frowned.
"But that would get their attention, right?"
"Who cares?" Doe shrugged. "Far as I know, Kashuba thinks I'm still on his side. He wouldn't think anything of it." Jack slowly nodded at the comment, continuing to stroke his chin.
"That's...a point."
Everyone else looked at him.
"Far as they know, Doe ain't defected," he said, gesturing to the uniformed man. "He could probably just take IF back up there, say he got rid of Chaz's bird, and get into prime position to take out Kashuba." He hesitated. "Kashuba didn't seem any harder than the rest of us durin' trainin', did he?"
Doe shook his head. "No tougher than any of the rest of us."
"I think Mr. Lovebun is testament to how tough most of you are, though," Black Heart noted, eyeing him over worriedly. "It's a wonder you're still alive." Jack waved a dismissive hand.
"I'm alright. I just wanna get this over with and make sure Cave's alright."
Again, Purple Heart scoffed. "And you say you don't have a thing for her..." Jack narrowed his eyes and gave a gesture as if he were winding up for a backhanded slap. The CPU recoiled slightly.
"THIS fuckin' close, Neptune," he snapped, twitching the hand. "THIS close."
The Planeptune CPU nodded, and Jack returned to his idle stance.
"Right," he continued, "So we've a rough plan, then?" The rest of the group nodded.
"Doe and I get up to the top floor," IF began, "From there, we get ready to take out Kashuba."
"Once he's dead, we CPUs get the hostages out of the building by air," Green Heart added.
"And when they're clear, we re-enter and take down the remaining members," White Heart grinned.
"Sounds solid," Jack nodded. He then turned, and gestured to the building, beginning to jog towards it the rest of the group in tow. Between them and the building were the not-so-tattered remains of the...
Jack's jog broke down, and he stopped. The CPUs flew past him, completely ignoring him.
As the Goddesses approached, the Share Energy converter in the Cyber-Dragon picked up their signals, and intercepted. All the Share Energy meant for them was being absorbed by the Dragon, and it showed: All four CPUs immediately slowed, grabbing at their heads and floating backwards, crying out in pain as the creature began to steadily pick itself up.
The lights in its' body relit all across the board. Its' formerly tattered flesh suddenly began to regrow at an alarming rate, and its' skin became much thicker. The cannon began bending itself back into shape, parts appearing to replace those that Doe had wrecked with the RPG. It slammed its fists into the ground, pushing itself back to standing up.
And now, Jack noticed that it was easily three times as tall as it was before. More spikes, more claws, more teeth.
A sixty foot tall behemoth that towered over most buildings nearby.
As it stood up to its' full height, the true terror that the beast inspired became apparent as the street nearby flooded with screams, people beginning to run away once more.
Doe and Jack immediately stepped forwards, guns raised and pushing the CPUs back to a safe distance. Jack turned to face Black Heart, whose nose looked like it was bleeding. "What the fuck just happened?!" he asked, checking her face and turning it with his left hand. "Concussion? You got a headache? Dizziness?"
The response was silence; Black Heart suddenly swept back into her normal form, eyes closed.
She was unconscious. Not dead, at least.
A glance around displayed that she wasn't the only one; The other three CPUs lay in crumpled heaps, IF desperately trying to drag them away from the Cyber-Dragon.
To the front, the Cyber-Dragon looked to be inspecting itself. It raised its' gargantuan hand up, viewing it with what seemed to be wicked interest, almost as if it were pleased with what it had become. Slowly, it turned its' head down to London and Doe, baring its' teeth.
Jack grimaced.
OK, now they were three times bigger than he was tall.
He kept his eyes on the dragon.
IF had been struggling with the CPUs. They needed to get out of there before anything else. Then there were still civilians running about...
"Doe," Jack began, glaring dead into the eyes of the Cyber-Dragon. "Help IF with the CPUs, and get as many civilians away from here as you can."
The soldier beside him blinked. "What?"
"You 'eard me, sunshine. Civvies and CPUs go first. Get the area cleared."
The helmeted man continued giving him a shocked look, then finally shook his head clear. "God speed, you magnificent bastard," the man said flatly, before slinging his RPG over his back and jogging over to pick up Blanc.
Jack, meanwhile, stared the Dragon down.
"I've sent you to Hell twice now, you ugly fuck," he snarled. "And you still. Won't. Die."
The creature crouched slightly, as if it were listening to his words. As he spoke, he was certain its' eyes narrowed.
So it was intelligent.
Once more, Jack pulled out his Mossberg, and let it rest on his shoulder. The creature showed no visible reaction to the weapon's appearance. Perhaps it was showing some form of respect by not attacking him. Perhaps it knew that such a weapon had no chance of hurting him.
Either way, the more seconds he distracted it, the more people could run.
"I kill you this time, and you'd damn-well better stay dead. I know I'm not one to talk about stayin' dead, but you've come back twice, now, you Phoenix bastard. Any luck, this is your last life."
The creature stood up straight, and backed away slightly, dust and stones showering Jack as the gargantuan monster moved. It made its' way to the other side of the arena, and lit up the massive cannon that it had for an arm. Jack squinted slightly, the orange glow of the cannon illuminating the entire appendage.
Oh, shite, did it have miniguns, now?
Jack grit his teeth, and slammed the shotgun into his waiting hand.
In response, the monster leaned down, and released the single most ear-splittingly loud noise Jack had ever heard in his life. There was intense heat from the Dragon's mouth, and inside the almost cavern-like maw, he could see the blue glow of the beast's power core. Now that it had regenerated, the thing looked like it had gone fucking nuclear.
Sparks flew from its' mouth, and the creature straightened up, pointing the cannon directly at him.
Jack had to dive to the left much faster than the previous two fights, as what he'd originally been expecting to be a steady rocket barrage turned out to be at least four miniguns lighting up the area he'd been in, tearing apart the floor of the crater as a deafening ballistic scream shattered the air.
Yeah, fuck that, the bastard had miniguns.
Sod the original plan.
He needed bigger guns.
Much bigger guns.
Immediately, Jack got back to his feet, beginning to sprint towards the Planeptune tower as fast as his legs could carry him. In the spur of the moment, he decided the best plan would be to retrieve the rocket launcher and minigun. And, if he was honest with himself, that was probably the best plan, because like fuck if he was gonna be fighting that shitty Godzilla knock-off with a couple of shotguns and machine guns.
The ground was detonating in a trail behind his feet, barely a few feet ahead of the spray of thousands of bullets, and he kept pumping his legs. There wasn't even time to turn and fire off any shots of his own.
He just had to fucking run.
He leapt up the edge of the crater, stumbling slightly as he approached the doors to the tower.
They were revolving towards him.
Fuck.
As swiftly as he could, the deafening screech of the miniguns shredding apart the air all around him, he pulled out one of the Desert Eagles and released two bullets into the glass doors that he was fast approaching. The bullets caused huge cracks to appear in the glass, meaning all he had to do was brace his shoulder and slam through it.
His mind briefly flickered in the thought that the glass might not break.
He almost missed a step.
Barely regaining balance, he was just able to charge (literally) headfirst into the glass door, smashing it apart on impact and tripping over the frame.
He let out a yell of shock as he landed amongst the glass shards, sliding along the tiled floor of the lobby.
Behind him, he could hear the Cyber-Dragon let out another roar, mixed with the sounds of some upstairs windows smashing.
Jack caught his breath back, and staggered to his feet, plucking some of the glass from himself and looking around.
He couldn't stay there long. That thing outside needed to die.
It was then that his pocket buzzed.
...he hadn't dropped his phone...?
Whatever.
He reached into his pocket, and withdrew the mobile.
IF
"Iffy!" he said upon opening it.
He then realized his mistake.
"Aha! Hello again, fuckstick!" Kashuba leered from the other end of the line. Jack rolled his eyes and groaned loudly. "You thought was your little brown-hair girlfriend? No! Was me: SERGEI!"
"Oh Christ, it's this fuckin' benderboy again."
"Be of get fucked, Queen fucker. So, I trust you met Crazy Ivan, da?"
"Who?"
"Crazy Ivan! You know: Big scary dragon motherfucker!"
"Yeah, I've met the bastard. Killed it twice."
"Twice is clearly not enough."
"Get fucked."
"Anyway, was just calling to tell you YES, I know that your precious little cinnamon roll goddesses have shown up, and YES, I saw Mr. Doe talking to you. I will kill him as soon as I can."
Jack snorted air through his nostrils.
Shit. There goes the plan.
"Also, I know you are in building."
"Of course I'm in the buildin', you vodka-swiggin' shitbag!" Jack snapped. "How else'm I meant to put my size eleven into your arse?!"
On the other end of the phone, Kashuba shrugged, idly twirling one of the .500 revolvers from a nearby arms crate around his finger. The phone was pressed between his shoulder and cheek, and his free hand was dedicated to resting behind his head, watching the terrified looks of his hostages with a bored look on his face.
"OK, is nice, London, but I have you know that it is I who will be doing the inserting of an eleven inch dick into your asshole."
The quiet murmurings of hostages around the room suddenly turned to looks of absolute disgust. A few of Kashuba's men stopped and looked at him as well.
Jack stood downstairs, silently staring at his phone.
"Mate..." he began, blinking a few times. "Did you just say you're gonna try and fuck me in the arse?"
Kashuba tilted his head confusedly, sitting up slightly. "Well...you said you want to put size eleven in my ass." There was a brief pause as Jack looked for a way up. "You are referring to big English dick, no?"
Jack groaned, and began running towards a staircase. "Size eleven's a fuckin' SHOE SIZE, you dickhead!"
Kashuba glared at his phone.
"As soon as you get up here, get ready for SERIOUS assfucking, you smug bitch."
Jack stopped, and looked up the tower's atrium before he headed up.
Up above, he could hear a small army's-worth of boots rushing down to take him on.
Beyond them, the amount of smoke emanating from floor 100 obscured his view up to the top of the tower.
The Cyber-Dragon was clearly trying to get into the building somehow, windows smashing on the floors above.
Jack grinned, and looked at the phone.
"Start lubin' yourself up, then, fuckboy, or I'm goin' in dry."
He snapped the device shut, and slung it into his pocket again, pulling out the .44 revolver and inspecting the available rounds as he made his way up the stairs. Above, the sound of hundreds of footsteps running downstairs became much louder, and the yelling of orders became more understandable as he neared about the thirtieth floor. A few words stuck out; "Defend", "Choke point", and "Killbox".
"Setting up shop, eh?" Jack murmured, keeping his eyes open across the atrium to see if anyone was over there, civilian or not. He stopped, and looked over the railings. About a twenty five storey drop...
...but there was a service vent.
Jack grinned, and approached the nearby vent cover. "Perhaps they won't mind if I take the side door." Sticking the revolver into his disk, Jack approached the vent, one-handedly yanked the cover off it, and popped his head inside to have a look.
It seemed like the vent started on that floor; It didn't go down at all. Instead, it went left, and began ascending the tower, seemingly around the entire building in a spiral. It was a bit dark, but then again, who was gonna attack him in a dark vent?
Jack clambered inside, and replaced the vent cover behind him. He then turned, and began to crouch-walk up the tunnel as silently as he could.
As he went, he began mulling over a new plan.
Floors above were brimming with some of the most dangerous armed terrorists in history.
The CPUs were basically out of commission so long as that fucking dragon was still about.
But why?
As soon as they'd gone near it, it was like they'd just...zonked out. It hadn't done that to him: He'd killed it twice.
He frowned, peering out of one of the vent covers he passed by. How was he different to the CPUs? There must have been some reason why it didn't affect him.
Perhaps it was because he was from Earth?
It seemed logical...
...wait.
IF was fine.
So it couldn't be just him.
He thought back to everything that the CPUs had said to him.
What was it that gave them strength...?
Then it clicked.
'Shares'.
The belief of people in them.
Maybe, because everyone feared that dragon, the CPUs weren't getting shares?
Then again, the CPUs had flown over to Planeptune just fine whilst the dragon was still alive the second and first time.
That, and it had gotten stronger when the CPUs arrived.
Like, much stronger.
The understanding of situation struck Jack almost as hard as one of the low-slung support beams in the vent hit his face.
It was stealing shares. It had some way of intercepting them from the CPUs, and using them for itself.
He needed to get word out. As the vent flattened itself out and went completely straight ahead for a good hundred meters or so, a set of green lights up ahead presumably indicated a powerbox or something.
Perfect: He could get the building power down and take them by surprise in the dark.
Immediately, he pulled his phone out, and was just about to try and contact the Police Commissioner through the emergency phone, when he put the device to his ear and noticed something.
Buzzing.
The speakers on the device were gently buzzing.
It would only do that if it had particularly bad signal...
...or if it was picking up encrypted frequencies.
He stopped dead.
That meant they were potentially communicating on hidden channels.
Slowly, he reached into his bag, and pulled out the headset he was issued for the inter-dimensional radio, connecting it to the phone and putting them onto the one ear.
The buzzing was quietly going in his ear, now. He took a couple of steps backwards, and it quietened down. A few steps forward, and it loudened slightly.
Ahead, the green lights hadn't changed. And it seemed as if the closer he got to them, the more interference his phone would get.
Jack narrowed his eyes.
Smart move: Put a signal jammer in the vents. After all, who would look in there?
Jack began to advance once more, slowly approaching the jammer as quietly as possible due to the risk of there being a microphone or explosive trap to detect and deter anyone going for it.
As he got closer, the jamming signal got louder and louder.
He was about thirty meters from the green lights when the earpiece suddenly began releasing an intense shrieking. Jack gasped in pain at the receipt of the noise, but barely had time to react.
Ahead of him, the green 'jammer' lights had suddenly become nearly spotlight bright, and begun to rapidly approach him. The light they sent out illuminated the nearly pitch-black vent, and Jack could barely make out the shape of an armoured man sprinting towards him with a baton in his hand.
"SHIT!" Jack cried, the earpiece letting out a piercing shriek as the man came closer. He pulled out his AK as fast as he could, levelling at his hip-height and beginning to unload rounds towards the man, backpedalling as fast as he could as the bullets soared forwards. Many of them missed; Those that did hit immediately pinged off the attacker's body armour, either stopping dead or ricocheting into the sides of the ventilation shaft.
The man ahead didn't relent, either: His charge was emphasized by the increasingly deafening screech of Jack's earpiece, steadily getting louder as the man caught up to him.
Jack remembered a sharp corner.
He was running out of space to run backwards.
The green lights of the man's goggles were so bright, so blinding, he could almost see the craziness behind the lenses.
Jack stumbled on a small dent in the shaft, his balance coming down, and the man in front of him breaking into a finishing move; A flying kick.
Then, a sudden burst of heat and light and pressure, knocking Jack flat onto his back and sending the other man flying over his head, crying out through a voice-filtered mask. Jack was flecked with shrapnel as the explosion washed over him, and for a few seconds, he lay still.
Behind him, the charging man hit the back end of the vent, slamming into the metalwork as the whole steel tube tilted jarringly downwards. Light flooded Jack's vision as the opening in the tube allowed it to vanquish the darkened steel coffin.
Jack could see the world steadily beginning to point in a bad way: Forty floors to the ground.
The contents of the vent began to slide down the floor, beginning to tinkle out of the vent in a cascade of AK shell casings, metal fragments, and flattened bullets.
Jack immediately span onto his side and pressed the flats of his boots against the vent edges, pushing himself against the other side of the vent. What little momentum he had instantly stopped.
Good. Crisis averted.
He let out a series of gasping breaths, attempting to get his breathing rhythm set straight. For the briefest moment, he had concerns that someone, somewhere, was gonna be making a motherfucking Jojo's reference out of his troubles, but the concerns disappeared as he realized the most important thing.
He had no idea if the other guy was actually dead or not.
After wiping his brow, he fixed his hair, and set about making the slow chimney-style climb up the collapsed vent.
One foot up, both arms up, then pull himself upwards. Secure himself. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The whole ordeal took about three and a half minutes just to get up about six meters of ventilation as it swung backwards and forwards in the breeze. It wasn't made any easier by the muffled sound of quad-miniguns outside, the resounding boom of the Cyber-Dragon's gargantuan feet hitting the ground, or the sound of people yelling on floors outside the vent. Just the footsteps alone nearly caused him to lose grip a few times.
Jack lingered on that thought as he reached the top of the collapsed vent and dragged himself up with a groan.
If it wasn't the kung-fu guy in the vents that set off the C4, then that meant...
The sound of the yelling outside the vent suddenly became more clear.
Oh, shit, they knew where he was.
Just as he dragged himself back up to the more stable part of the vent, the air inside the building was shattered as a hundred or so men emptied guns into the empty shaft behind him. Jack grunted in pain as a few bullets pinged into him, but decided to lie low and identify what they had as best as he could.
Some submachine guns...
...light machine guns...or assault rifles.
Shotguns, definitely.
A bullet suddenly zipped straight past his head, barely gashing the gaunt of his cheek and edge of his eyebrow. He winced in pain, and shifted back around the corner of the vent.
He rubbed his face.
A lot of blood.
"And at least one sniper..." he muttered, peeking his head around the corner. In front of him was a five meter run up, and a rather large gap; Easily hitting twenty meters with the other broken vent hanging down.
No chance of him jumping it.
Jack scratched his head, and looked at the gap. The vent on the other side did continue upwards. It'd mean he wasn't having to get his arse kicked by hundreds of men of equal standing to him on the way up the stairs.
Although, it did mean he would have to get the shit kicked out of him by the hundreds waiting at the other end of the vent now that they knew where he was.
Again, he grimaced.
The gunfire died down...but then another noise caught his attention.
To his right, sat against the wall with a massive piece of shrapnel rammed through his head, was the kung fu guy.
"Well, at least I know he's dead," Jack whistled, crouching over to him and beginning to pull things from his body. As he set about removing the insanely durable body armour from the man's corpse, Jack pulled out his phone (surprisingly, no longer buzzing) and called MAGES.. He planted the phone between his ear and shoulder, then began strapping on the newly acquired chestplate.
The answer was immediate. "Mr. London!" came the voice of his favourite scientist (next to Bill Nye).
"MAGES.," he began, "You guys doin' alright?"
"Um, y-yes," stammered the woman. "What in the Goddesses' names is that thing out there?!"
"Remember that dragon?" Jack grunted, tugging on one of the shin guards he pried from the dead assassin.
"From floor one hundred? Yes."
"We both fell out of the window. Landed down there, killed him again, but then the CPUs arrived, and it revived itself. Much stronger than before."
"Oh, crap, I should have known!" MAGES. snapped. Jack tilted his head, looking at the man's MP5, which had been pinned to the wall by a piece of steel.
"What's up? You know what it's doin'?"
"It's intercepting the Share energy of the CPUs!"
Jack grinned.
"Fuckin' called it."
"What?"
"Nothin'. Anyway, how do we stop it?"
"Right now, we can't do anything. Until we can get the CPUs away from it, that thing is going to keep repairing itself. Unfortunately, it knows that too. It's going to be chasing the CPUs down."
Jack nearly dropped the phone. It wouldn't matter, since he'd probably pull a fresh one out somehow, but still.
"F-Fuck...IF!" he cried.
"What about her?" MAGES. asked. "Is she with you?"
"No, and that's the problem!" Jack finished strapping on the armour, putting his bandoliers and jacket back on over the top of it. "She was helping the CPUs when I left her!"
"Don't tell me she took them into a crowd."
"Oh, shit."
"DAMMIT!" MAGES. yelled. "We'll...dammit, we'll need to deal with this later! What are you doing right now?" Jack grabbed hold of the dead body, hoisting it up to standing so that he could inspect it. Once the mask was pulled off...
...goddamn.
Looked kinda like him.
"London!" MAGES. said again. "Where are you?"
Jack smirked, looked at the gap, then the body, then himself.
He also had the radio from this guy...
"On my way to the top, again. Oh, and if you see a body falling, don't panic."
"A body? Wha-?"
Jack hung up the phone, and set about donning the mask and goggles that the guy was wearing.
He put on the mouth cover. "This thing filterin'?" he muttered. To his satisfaction, his voice was remarkably similar to the man formerly wearing the outfit.
He grinned, and grabbed the dead body again, looking at the gap.
He had exactly one shot at this working.
Here was hoping his GCSE in Drama was good enough for the ruse he was about to pull.